Make a simple, thin glue from flour and water (boiling gives it a nice consistency). Mix 1/4 cup of flour into 1 cup of water until the mixture is thin and runny. Stir into 1 cup of boiling water. Simmer for about 3 minutes, then cool. (You can make this glue without cooking it, but it isn't as smooth that way.) Have an adult do the cooking.

Blow up a balloon. Dip a few feet of string or yarn into the flour glue, let the excess drip off, and wrap it around the balloon. Repeat until you have wrapped enough yarn around the balloon to look like a cage.

After the glue has dried (this can take a few days if the humidity is high), pop the balloon and throw it away.

Attach a length of string to the cage (you can hang it from this string).

Either print out the bird template or draw your own bird on construction paper. Cut the bird out along its outlines and color it (on both sides of the paper).

Cut a few inches of string - tape one end to the bird's neck. Hang the bird inside the string cage. (You may have to roll the bird up to get it in the cage.)